Man being presented with certificate by another man in award ceremony setting
Tuesday, 11 February 2025

University of Limerick academic and researcher Professor Paul Weaver has won a top international award, it has been announced.

Professor Weaver, Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at UL’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chair of Composite Materials and their Structures at the Bernal Institute, has been honoured by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the American Society of Composites (ASC) with the 2025 AIAA-ASC James H. Starnes, Jr. Award.

This highly distinguished prize recognised Professor Weaver’s outstanding contribution to the field of composite structures and his supportive and inspirational mentoring of young academics and professionals.

The award is given every four years and Professor Weaver is the first recipient from outside the USA.

“This award is presented to recognize continued significant contribution to, and demonstrated promotion of the field of structural mechanics over an extended period of time emphasizing practical solutions, to acknowledge high professionalism, and to acknowledge the strong mentoring of and influence on colleagues,” the judges said. 

“Paul M. Weaver has now distinguished himself by his contributions to the aerospace community, has earned this title based on those contributions, and is a visible credit to University of Limerick, and University of Bristol.”

Professor Weaver is an authority in the field of structural mechanics for composite materials, a pioneer in the field of morphing composite structures, and an expert in the structural mechanics, buckling and postbuckling of composite structures.

He holds patents in morphing flap technology for wind turbine blades and helicopter rotor blades as well as in deployable lattice structures for satellites. His anisotropic buckling codes have been adopted by Airbus and Boeing.

As a summer consultant to NASA Langley for 15 years, Professor Weaver worked on generic buckling methods for composite plates and shells supporting the design of new launch vehicles. In addition, he has consulted for Ferrari Formula 1 and America’s Cup team Artemis Racing. 

Commenting on the win, Professor Ronan O’Higgins, Head of UL’s School of Engineering said: “Since joining UL in 2015, Professor Paul Weaver has made an outstanding contribution to the School of Engineering and the Bernal Institute through his work and leadership on composite structures research. Professor Weaver is an original thinker on composite structural design. 

“His receipt of the prestigious AIAA-ASC James H. Starnes Jr. Award is well-deserved international recognition of the outstanding contribution he has made to composite material structural mechanics. We are very proud of his achievement.”

Reacting to his award, Professor Weaver said: "I am thrilled to receive the James H. Starnes Jr. Award from the AIAA president, Daniel Hastings, and the ASC Vice-President, Rani Sullivan. I am honoured and humbled to be recognised by an award named after Jim Starnes, a great man who held highly influential positions in NASA and has left his 'professional fingerprints' over much of the worldwide composite structures landscape.”

Professor Weaver has graduated more than 50 PhD students and mentored more than 30 postdoctoral researchers. Many of these now hold senior technical positions in the aerospace industry around the world as well as some founding their own technology companies. Others have secured prestigious research fellowships and lectureships/professorships across 10 different countries. He has authored 275 referred journal articles and attracted more than €48m of research funding including some €3.6m from industry.